Happened too many times for first 3-4 years.There is no risk of loosing the "deposit" either and it's just a bit of skin in the game even tho the skin is always yours to keep heheCovered all angles mate and made this as fool proof as possible but still enough to make folks "jump" through hoops to see who is legit and who isn't.As Chris mentioned, 90% of investors we don't end up working with and even when many commit to the deposit, I refund many times as I don't feel a good fit.Even with such stringent criteria, we still get mud thrown on us here on BP as some folks slip through the cracks.I could only imagine if we took on everyone and just focused on pushing sales.I can sell a TV to a blind man and ice to an eskimo.

This works almost everywhere and is almost fool proof.

I read "The book on property investing" by Brandon Turner an in it he says to make adds fool proof so that applicants aren't calling you to ask "how much is rent" or "how many bedrooms" etc.

Nothing is foolproof, of course, and that's not to say someone with a ton of votes or posts can't/won't be wrong on some issues, but in a virtual world where vetting is difficult it's as close to a sure thing as you can get.

One thing my friend had was a plan, he never moved on to the next step until he had a plan... doesn’t need to be a foolproof plan just one that you can execute.

No process is 100% foolproof, but if you are not running credit checks and get a bad tenant then you only have yourself to blame. 

If it was too easy and foolproof everyone would be doing it.

I'd be happy to receive additional insights and ideas how to ensure appropriate screening of tenants so I avoid "bad apples" - I know there's nothing foolproof, but I will be glad that I tried to avoid some of the landlord issues. :)

Simply judging a list price or assuming the value based on the current rent is not a fool-proof method of evaluation.

Just saying, don't think of them as a foolproof way of preventing theft.